Travel Namibia: Top Five Adventures
June 4, 2012Experiencing Damara culture first-hand
June 5, 2012“Following a series of recent human/wildlife conflict incidents in Namibian communal lands, impassioned tour guides and tour operators came together to contribute towards improving the situation and assist with future conflict mitigation.” Felix Vallat, of Conservancy Safaris Namibia, and Permanent Secretary for the Tourism Supporting Conservation (TOSCO) organisation.
As a result, the TOSCO Trust was founded in early 2012 to legally generate funds and provide a communication platform for conservation in the tourism industry.
The aim is to draw tourists to Namibia, as well as the general public and tourism stakeholders, to support conservation of Namibia’s natural resources through donations to TOSCO. Donations will be used to fund specific products approved by the Trust.
Projects supported by TOSCO in 2012 that contribute towards providing guidance to tourism operators and contributing to human-wildlife conflict mitigation include financing informative brochures for self-drivers and ‘no entry’ signboards, also contribute to the causes of the Desert Lion Conservation Project and Huab Lion Management Programme.
Creation and implementation of each project is done in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Namibian conservancies, various NGOs and research projects meeting TOSCO’s objectives.
All tourism professionals who wish to play their part in promoting nature conservation and communal tourism are invited to join the TOSCO Trust.
(Originally published 01.06.2012)
